Friday, June 22, 2007

The perception that God is there to do things for us is perhaps the strongest barrier to divine presence.

This reminded me that sometimes in our church worship I feel like all we're doing in prayer and in song is bossing God around. "Hey, do this, make me clean, open my heart, give me strength, hear me, love me, hear us, love us, do this for someone else" - as if we would ever say that to "God" if "God" were actually standing in front of us (so to speak).

This is just an observation, really. I'm not sure what my point is in all this, except to say that the image of God as the Cosmic Vending Machine is still very prominent in church corporate worship. This, of course, is a fine and acceptable first-stage approach to the Divine and yet my hope would be that Christian spiritual communities would continue to provide opportunities for growth and surrender into deeper experiences and understandings of "God."

Jon concludes, "It works for a while, but dropping the demands of our neediness is essential to experience the divine later on in the journey as the soul matures." But don't pay too much mind to this regurgitated post... swing over and read Jon's original post HERE.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

About 4 years ago, the drummer I was playing with at the time slipped me 2 CDs by the band MUSE - "Origin of Symmetry" and "Showbiz." After giving them a few spins, I found myself mesmerized.

Fast forward to today, with a few more excellent albums under their belts - as well as a couple of friends (Jay, cough, cough) who are as into them as I am (and maybe moreso) - I would argue that this is the best rock band in the world right now.

Take hard rock, add a slight funk groove, an amazing voice, and (this is important) "classical" music inspired melodies and lead lines. Watch all 6 minutes of this first video and tell me this isn't mind-blowingly amazing rock music (my goodness, I love that chorus at 3:16).

Muse - NEW BORN (Live)

Muse - MUSCLE MUSEUM (this is actually the song that first made me a fan)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"YOU are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." {Jesus}

How can you give your light now/today so that the world becomes brighter instead of darker?

Monday, June 18, 2007

As I've mentioned before, the band I'm in, Waltz for Venus, is in the middle of a national radio campaign. I went to one of the radio station's website and saw their "Top 20" chart and check this out (below). Needless to say I was surprised to see us charted alongside the likes of The White Stripes, Switchfoot and The Killers.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Pink Noise, the Pink Floyd tribute band that I'm in, had a great show last Friday night. The place was packed, people were singing along and really into it. We even had, in the words of our drummer doing his best Dr. Evil impression, "frickin' laser beams." What a blast.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Last night I began my first venture into home beer brewing. My first attempt is the warm and malty SCOTCH ALE - in other words: LOTS of malt and grain, very little hops (as seen below).

The wort is a-brewin'...

And of course you can't MAKE beer without enjoying some at the same time. I had a couple of my beer buddies over and we knocked out some leftover growlers from the Lafayette Brewing Company (The 85, Prophet's Rock Pale Ale, and the Phoenix Strong Ale).

And since there wasn't much in the growlers to begin with and they emptied very quickly, we had to go with SOMETHING else, so we figured what the hell, let's just open up one of the stored Dark Lord Stouts.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

You sit down to meditate. Within a few minutes, your stomach starts rumbling and grumbling for some food. A moment later the alarm on your cellular phone starts going off in the other room. There is a few moments of calm and then the dogs start barking at a rabbit in the back yard. A police siren screams down the street.

The natural, habitual reaction to all this is to label these things distractions to the peace and focus of your meditation. I believe the first step, however, toward really making meditation meaningful is the simple observation that the dance of life is happening. Meditation is nothing more than resting in consciousness. It is identifying with with formless, still base-point, or ground, upon which all of life springs forth. But what is consciousness without light/form/life, and vice versa?

There is the Ground and there is the Dance.There is the Masculine and there is the Feminine.There is the Source and there is the Expression.

These things that come up while we are identifying with consciousness are not distractions; they are the very life that consciousness witnesses. They are that which dances while we remain still. It is only because the light and life dances we know any stillness at all.

Friday, June 08, 2007

1.) Friday, June 8th - Pink Noise, the Pink Floyd tribute band that I'm part of - has a big show in Lafayette, IN tonight. Sounds like the place is going to be packed out (if everyone shows up that said they would). Should be a blast.

2.) Saturday, June 9th - Amy and I celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. It's pretty awesome being married to such an amazing woman. We had to celebrate on Wednesday, though, because Saturday, June 9th is also...

3.) My 10-year class reunion.

This weekend is panning out to be lots of fun, but I imagine I'll be pretty pooped come Sunday - good thing I took the weekend off work.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Lord, the air smells good today,straight from the mysterieswithin the inner courts of God.A grace like new clothes thrownacross the garden, free medecine for everybody.The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,the first blue violets kneeling.Whatever came from Being is caught up in being, drunkenlyforgetting the way back.(by Rumi)

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Here is Ben Folds performing his song Army at an intimate concert setting. This is certainly the way to get your fans involved... Mouth Trumpet! Fun stuff. (Plus, how can you beat a song that references Chick-Fil-A)

Well I thought about the Army,Dad said, "Son, you're fuckin' high."And I thought, yeah there's a first for everything,so I took my old man's advice.Three sad semesters,it was only fifteen grandSpent in bed I thought about the army,I dropped out and joined a band instead.

Grew a mustache and a mullet,Got a job at Chick-Fil-ACiting artistic differences the band broke up in May,and in June reformed without me, and they got a different name.I nuked another grandma's apple pieand hung my head in shame.

Been thinking a lot today.Been thinking a lot today.

Ohhhh, I think I'll write a screenplay.Ohhhh, I think I'll take it to LA.Ohhhh, I think I'll get it done yesterday.

In this time of introspection.On the eve of my election,I say to my reflectionGod, please spare me more rejection.Cause my peers they criticize me,and my ex-wives all despise me.Try to put it all behind me,but my redneck past is nipping at my heels

I've been thinking a lot today.I've been thinking a lot today.I've been thinking a lot today.I thought about the army...

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Every once in a while a blog virus spreads. Consider me the vaccination, baby. I'll post my Crazy 8 alright, but I will not spread this infectious disease to any more innocent and unsuspecting bloggers. May those of you who have already been infected (like you, you, and you) find peace in your horrible affliction.

And now, without further ado, here are my 8 random facts:

1.) I've mentioned this before, but I have a precise and exact pattern for toweling my entire body off every day after the shower. The only time this fails is when I think about it and try to remember the order, in which instance the whole sequence crumbles.

2.) Very little irks me more than the 10 minutes of lights-down, have-to-watch commercials - before the movie trailers - before theater movies.

3.) One of the main things from parenthood that I've always wanted to do (and now have done many times) is carry a sleeping kid in from the car.

4.) Besides short flights to San Diego, Oakland and Seattle, I've never been to (or driven through) any of the other many states west of Missouri.

5.) I once had a job in the outdoor/landscaping area of a department store and had to answer the phone: "Pet and Garden this is Trevor Harden" - which rhymed and made me feel like an ass.

6.) In high school, my friends and I shot hundreds of hours of "home videos" (as we always called them) featuring tape after tape of short skits and filmed shenanigans and was always our first choice for recreational activity.

7.) Coffee, beer and chocolate: in each category, the darker the better.

8.) As I was pulling into the bank yesterday (which is a mere block from my home), a cop told me the bank was closed and to move along. Here's why.